Established by the United States Department of State in 1964, the ART In Embassies Program is a global museum that exhibits original works of art by U.S. citizens in the public rooms of approximately 180 American diplomatic residences worldwide. These exhibitions, with art loaned from galleries, museums, individual artists, and corporate and private collections, play an important role in our nation's public diplomacy. They provide international audiences with a sense of the quality, scope, and diversity of American art and culture through the accomplishments of some of our most important citizens, our artists.

Deer Boy a new artist's book by Hung Liu and Michael McClure. This book is published by Magnolia Press.

Hung Liu's "Deer Boy," an artist's book combining images by Hung Liu with poetry by Michael McClure, was inspired by the artist's encounters with two fallen deer. In November of 2008, Liu was taking a morning walk in the Oakland hills when she saw a prone deer. The artist stopped and borrowed her husband's cell phone to capture the image. She walked around the animal, photographing it from various angles. Later, while making drawings based on these photographs, the artist says she had the same sense that the deer was flying or dancing, as if caught in the performance of a sequence of ethereal movements.

Judith Kindler

PONCHO Artist of the Year

PONCHO recently announced that their annual Artist of the Year Award goes to Seattle artist and community activist Judith Kindler for the year 2009. Kindler is a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation, photography, and photo-based work embedded in encaustic. Her past awards include serving as Master Artist at Pratt Fine Arts as well as a PONCHO Merit Award for Excellence. Her art can be found in many major collections, both public and private, and she exhibits her work through: Gail Severn Gallery in Ketchum, Idaho.

Tony Foster

Searching for a Bigger Subject

Phoenix Art Museum

July 11 - October 18, 2009

Traveling on foot, by raft or canoe, climbing mountains and weathering extreme climates, English artist Tony Foster creates watercolor diaries in the world’s great wildernesses. For more than 25 years, he has been painting large-scale works on what he calls “the edge of the world”. In this exhibition, Foster focuses his attention on two of the world’s most powerful subjects – Arizona’s Grand Canyon and Mount Everest in the Himalayas.

Foster has worked extensively at remote locations on the North and South Rims of the Grand Canyon, and at Mount Everest on the North Face, where hikers generally approach, and the even more remote East Face. He is believed to be the only artist to ever create paintings of Everest from the Nepal and Tibet sides of the mountain. The exhibition is the culmination of Foster’s travels to these breathtaking sites and includes 32 recent studies and monumental paintings.

Working in delicate watercolor, Foster blends the nineteenth-century traditions of British explorers, who made detailed notebook sketches of their travels, with a contemporary artist’s interest in working in a large-scale format. His largest watercolor paintings measure an astounding six feet wide, particularly impressive considering they were made on location. Appreciation for the difficulty of working on such a scale while on site, however, is secondary to the beauty of the paintings themselves.

Foster writes, “All of my work is based on the philosophy that our planet is a gloriously beautiful but fragileplace, and that as an artist it is my role to deliver a testament to the fact that wild and pristine places still exist.”

Born in Lincolnshire, England in 1946, Foster is a Fellow of London’s Royal Geographical Society, where he has been the recipient of the Cherry Kearton Memorial Medal “for his artistic portrayal of the world’s wilderness,” and the subject of the documentary “The Man Who Painted Everest” (2006).

Will Robinson

Bremerton Memorial Plaza

WET worked closely with the City of Bremerton to bring the elements of Puget Sound inland, blurring the boundary between land and sea. Bremerton Memorial Plaza is the fourth feature of the Waters of Bremerton Harborside—focal points designed to resonate with the regions natural features, reflect local history, and guide ferry passengers from the harbor to historic downtown Bremerton.

At the south end of Bremerton Memorial Plaza, in honor of the U.S. Navy, monumental rock sculptures created by local artist Will Robinson are paired with dynamic water expressions.

Julie Speidel

Central Oregon Community College

Julie Speidel was selected from three finalists for a sculpture commission for the new Campus Center Building for Central Oregon Community College. The sculpture and base will be 10 feet high and will be positioned next to the main entry. It will provide an identifying signature for the campus and will be an inviting entrance and gathering place. The piece is titled 'Full Circle".

The sculpture consists of five interlocking organic shapes. The shapes and their relationship reflect strength and support -- two important aspects of educational experience. Smaller cubic shapes are captured and supported by two geometric shapes that draw on the concept of the school environment, sheltering and cultivating while not restrictive. The sculpture juxtaposes organic shapes as a counterpoint to the rectangular elements of the building and courtyard. This creates interplay between the strong architectural design and the human element.

The sculpture is scheduled for installation in September 2009.

Robert McCauley

The Hallie Ford Museum

June 6, 2009 - August 2, 2009

The Hallie Ford Museum, Willamette University is exhibiting Robert McCauley: Rapids and Pools.Robert McCauley is a Mt. Vernon, Washington artist who explores the 19th century notion of “Manifest Destiny” and its impact on the indigenous cultures and environment of the western United States through paintings, drawings, installations, and mixed media works. Organized by Director John Olbrantz, the exhibition features 24 works from public and private collections in Washington, California, Idaho, and Illinois.

Click here for link to exhibition website.

Lynda Lowe

2009 Neddy Artist Fellowship Nominee

May 23, 2009 - October 4, 2009

The Neddy Artist Fellowship (“the Neddy”), established by the Behnke Family and the Behnke Foundation, is one of the few unrestricted cash awards granted to visual artists in the Northwest. The Foundation recently announced this year’s finalists. The artists nominated for painting are Tim Cross, Eric Elliott, Gary Faigin, and Lynda Lowe. The finalists for glass are Benjamin Moore, April Surgent, and the artist teams of Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora Mace; and Jenny Knowles and Sabrina Pohlman. The two Fellowship recipients—one in each category—will be announced at the Tacoma Art Museum Members’ Opening and Artist Party Saturday, June 6 at 6:30 pm. Admission to that event is free for all attendees.

This is the fifth year Tacoma Art Museum has collaborated with the Behnke Family and the Behnke Foundation to host the exhibition of finalists for this prestigious award. "We are delighted by our partnership with the Behnke Family and the Behnke Foundation. We share the common goal of highlighting exemplary artists working in the Northwest," said Tacoma Art Museum Director Stephanie Stebich. "The Neddy Artist Fellowship is one of only a handful of significant regional awards for visual artists offering substantial monetary support."

James Cook

Roswell Museum

This beautiful painting "Velarde" by James Cook will be installed at the museum in June. The oil painting is 60" x 70." The Roswell Museum and Art Center inspires discovery, creativity, and cultural understanding of the art and history of the American Southwest and beyond.

Victoria Adams: Lux Art Institute

Lux Resident Artist

March 26 - May 20, 2009

Lux Art Institute is redefining the museum experience to make art more accessible and personally meaningful. At Lux, you don’t just see finished works of art; you see the artistic process firsthand, engaging with internationally recognized artists in a working studio environment.

Victoria Adams is a contemporary landscape painter who lives and works on a small Island outside of Washington State. She finds inspiration for her primary subject matter—the sky, the land, and deep atmospheric space—in the weather and views of the Pacific Northwest, yet her imagery transcends regionality. Her work combines her memories of places and paintings that suggest timeless views of the landscape.

The artist was born in Columbus, OH in 1950 and received a BA in English Literature from Ohio State University. In her twenties, she moved to the Pacific Northwest, initiated her training in the visual arts and received a BFA in Painting from the University of Washington, studying under the renowned painter Jacob Lawrence.

Squeak Carnwath

Painting is no Ordinary Object

Oakland Museum of California

April 25 - August 23, 2009

This presentation of Carnwath’s work—the first organized by a major West Coast museum—includes more than 40 paintings not seen collectively since the artist’s last major exhibition, in 1994.

“An in-depth examination of Squeak Carnwath’s work is timely, if not overdue,” says museum director Lori Fogarty. “This show confirms Carnwath’s groundbreaking artistry and stature as one of California’s leading contemporary artists.”

As the title indicates, a painting is “no ordinary object” for Carnwath (American, b. 1947). Her recurring motifs—among them numbers, rabbits, and lists—reflect personal and universal themes; each meticulously applied layer of paint carries meaning and inquiry.

This exhibition will transform 5,600 square feet of the OMA's galleries into a visually dazzling environment of light and color. Visitors will take a journey, which will include a walk through a mirrored maze, panoramic murals, video projections and a blown glass sculpture. The journey will end in a room-size glass building filled with art works representing the artist's conception of a Fountain of Youth.

Therman Statom

Stories of the New World

Orlando Museum of Art

January 10 - May 10, 2009

Stories of the New World will feature custom art installations by Therman Statom, a major figure in the Studio Glass movement. Throughout his career, Statom has pushed the boundaries of his medium - challenging his audience to look at glass in new and interesting ways. His interest in studio glass began as a student in the 1970s at the Rhode Island School of Design. He studied with Dale Chihuly, who has remained a lifelong friend and mentor. In 1971, Statom participated in the inaugural season of the Pilchuck Glass School and has been known as an innovator and a force in the Studio Glass movement ever since.

Statom is a pioneer in the use of glass as a material for sculpture and room-size installation art. His work is distinguished from other glass artists of his generation in that he works with a wide variety of materials in addition to blown glass. His works are assembled from an inventory of objects he makes in the studio such as glass ladders, mirrored chairs, exotic blown glass vessels and painted images. These forms, which seem to possess underlying symbolic meanings, are brought together in compositions imbued with mystery.

Stories of the New World will be a large-scale, multi-part glass installation. Statom will use Juan Ponce de Leon's 1513 search for the fabled Fountain of Youth as a point of departure to explore both historic and contemporary themes of hope, discovery, ambition and destiny. Ponce de Leon intrigues Statom in part because of his historic association with Florida, but more so because of the broader implications, symbolic and real, societal and personal, of the explorer's quest for this elusive goal.

"I want the gallery to have the atmosphere of having arrived at a place or destination that reflects the search, discovery and mysticism inherent in these ideas. In essence, this installation will function as a conceptual Fountain of Youth." - Therman Statom.

This exhibition will transform 5,600 square feet of the OMA's galleries into a visually dazzling environment of light and color. Visitors will take a journey, which will include a walk through a mirrored maze, panoramic murals, video projections and a blown glass sculpture. The journey will end in a room-size glass building filled with art works representing the artist's conception of a Fountain of Youth.

Jun Kaneko

Boise Art Museum

November 29, 2008 - February 8, 2009

This exhibition features an extensive representation of Jun Kaneko’s work in ceramic sculpture, drawings and paintings over the past two decades. Mainly identified as a sculptor, Jun Kaneko also works in glass, textiles, bronze, paper and canvas. Born in Japan and currently residing in Omaha, Nebraska, Kaneko is internationally recognized as being at the forefront of the ceramics movement. Known for the ambitious scale of his ceramics projects, his massive tapered forms called Dangos (meaning rounded form, or ma in Japanese), can measure 13 feet high and weigh 5,000 pounds or more. Kaneko is one of the few artists in modern history to attempt clay pieces of such size and weight. Kaneko’s work is engaged in serious explorations of order and disorder, simplicity and complexity deliberate action and spontaneity.